Grace and Truth- both needed

‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth’ (John 1: 14)

        ‘ For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ’
                                                                           ( John 1: 17)

From August this year we have  started  having a Bible study in my room here in my Hostel every Monday night at 9:30 pm.  It is basically for non-  Christian , so we choose to start with the book of John, who is so emotional, rational and giving a very clear picture of  Christ. I want you to pray for the Bible study so that we can bring people into the light of Christ.

I have so many things to share about the doctrines what John had wrote in the early part of the Chapter.  Let me try to highlight about the grace and truth which are both important in our Christian life.

From the later passage that I have highlighted above one can easily notice that Moses  message is contrasted to that of Jesus. In the Bible each man was a great leader who revealed the word of God. Moses revealed the Old Testament; Jesus revealed the New Testament. The characteristic of Moses message, which is emphasized here, was law - commandments to guide men’s conduct. The features of Jesus  message, which are emphasized here, are grace and truth.

Here the point of the passage is that it does not mean to say that the law under Moses is lack of  grace and truth, nor  is it intended to say  that Jesus message cannot be characterized  as law. The point of the verse is to contrast unique or dominant features of each revelation, which result in a different emphasis between the two. To use this verse to deny that there was grace in Moses’ law would be a perversion like some people did around us! Likewise, it perverts the verse to use it to claim that Jesus revelation is not a law and contains no commandments.

See Matthew 7:21-27; 22:36-39; John 14:15,21-24; Acts 10:34,35; Romans 2:6-10; 6:17,18; Hebrews 5:9; 10:39; 11:8,30; Galatians 5:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:8,9; James 1:21-25; 2:14-26; Luke 6:46; 1 Peter 1:22,23; 1 John 5:3; 2:3-6. You will conclude that the New Testament is also a law containing the commandments that we need to obey.   

Moses law was true, but not all of the truth. It was not the complete and final revelation of God’s truth. It showed men they were sinners but never gave permanent forgiveness, whereas Jesus message is able to provide complete forgiveness of sin.

Meanwhile from both the passages of the Scriptures above we can conclude that we are not saved only by grace but also by truth. This means that Jesus did not bring only grace , but also the  truth. Truth is equally emphasized in the gospel. John 8:31,32 says that, ‘ Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “ If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free, ” ’.  This basically means we are demanded to study about Jesus and His teachings, learn the truth and apply it in our daily life. So, one can be made free from sin if he knows the truth and abide in it.

In light of the gospel teaching about truth, necessarily implies the necessity of being obedience. John himself  clearly mentioned about this argument in his book-  1:14; 8:32-36; 14:6; 16:13; 17:17. Even Apostle Paul wrote many times about truth. In his letter to Timothy- ‘ Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of  truth’(II Timothy 2: 15). Thinking back the intimate relationship between Paul and Timothy one would say that being obedience and doing the will of God is equally as important as being receiving the grace of God.   

You can  also see these Bible verses - Romans 2:6-11; Ephesians 1:13; 4:14-16; 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12; 1 Timothy 3:15; 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 25,26; 4:2-4; 1 Peter 1:22,23. These  will convince  you  the need for the truth to be learned and you will live your Christian life in His light.